MANILA, Philippines (UPDATE) – Flood waters entered some of tents in the relocation site for victims of tropical storm “Sendong” in Cagayan de Oro City on Monday night.

Knee-deep waters forced at least 16 families of Tent City 2 in Baranay Canitoan to seek shelter in a covered court.

“Abot-tuhod talaga 'yung tubig. Lumabas kami para hindi mabutas ‘yung tent. Nangangamba kami baka maulit muli ‘yung nangyari noon,” said Eduardo Simorlan, one of the residents.

Some of the residents, meanwhile, chose not to leave the tent city after noticing that the flood waters were already subsiding.

The floods subsided by Tuesday morning, leaving areas under thick mud.

Residents had to clean their tents.

“Mistulang water bed na sa amin, nataranta kami gaya kagabi,” said Epiphany Degala, one of the residents.

Barangay Captain Joshua Taboclaon explained that the relocation site is not flat, causing the rain waters to pool in the lower portion of the area.

The city engineer also said the tent city's location is low-lying, which makes it prone to floods.

“Ang kanal kasi 6 inches lang kalaki, hindi kakayanin ang dami ng tubig sa tent site, dahil noon nagka-water log na siya, diyan naiipon ang tubig,” sabi ni Engr. Mario Batar.

Repairs are planned on the drainage system in the coming days to address the flooding.

Cagayan de Oro City residents have yet to recover from the massive loss of lives and properties wrought by Sendong last December. Some of the families are currently staying in tent cities while construction of permanent relocation houses is ongoing. -- Reports from Maricel Butardo and Primy Cane, ABS-CBN News Northern Mindanao; ANC